Research Summary
Research Summary
National Innovation Systems in the Life Sciences
Description
This is an international comparative study of how institutional contexts shape the process by which science is leveraged into commercial technology. The study explores how variance in corporate governance systems, knowledge- and skill-formation systems, and risk-management vehicles determines effective managerial practice.
It is being undertaken as part of the Harvard Life Sciences Project.
Specifically, the study addresses three issues:
What are the drivers of superior performance in the commercialization of discoveries in the life sciences?
Does variance in systems of corporate governance, knowledge and skill-creation systems, and risk management systems explain international differences in commercialization performance?
Can organizations create barriers to imitation, and thus competitive advantage, by leveraging specific features of their local institutional context?
The research is currently building on a database of development performance and practice including research institutions and firms in the US, Japan, France, Britain, Australia, and China,and will be published as multiple papers and a book.